Engineered woody biomass baling system

Abstract

A woody biomass baler having a baling chamber adapted to receive woody biomass material and a compression system adapted to compact the material into a parallelepiped bale in the baling chamber, wherein the baling chamber has a front wall that acts as a reciprocating compression platen corresponding in dimensions to the width W and height H of the bale, opposing upper and lower walls corresponding in dimensions to the length L and either of the W and H of the bale, and opposing sidewalls corresponding in dimensions to the L and the other of the W and H of the bale, and wherein each chamber wall selected from among the upper wall, the lower wall, and each of the sidewalls can withstand a distributed force perpendicular to the selected chamber wall of between (0.11×Pp psi×Aw) pounds and (0.3×Pp psi×Aw) pounds, wherein 0.11 and 0.3 are Poisson's ratio values, Pp is the maximum pressure that the compression system can apply to woody biomass material in the chamber, and Aw is the area of the selected chamber wall expressed in square inches.

We claim: 
     
       1. A woody biomass baler comprising:
 a baling chamber configured to receive woody biomass material, and 
 a compression system configured to compact the material into a parallelepiped bale in the baling chamber, 
 wherein the baling chamber has a front wall that acts as a reciprocating compression platen corresponding in dimensions to a width W and a height H of the bale, opposing upper and lower walls corresponding in dimensions to a length L and either of the width W and the height H of the bale, and opposing sidewalls corresponding in dimensions to the length L and the other of the width W and the height H of the bale, and wherein each of the baling chamber walls selected from among the upper wall, the lower wall, and each of the sidewalls is configured to withstand a distributed force perpendicular to the selected chamber wall of between (0.11×Pp psi×Aw) pounds and (0.3×Pp psi×Aw) pounds, wherein 0.11 and 0.3 are Poisson's ratio values, Pp is a maximum pressure that the compression system can apply to woody biomass material in the baling chamber, and Aw is area of the selected chamber wall expressed in square inches. 
 
     
     
       2. The woody biomass baler of  claim 1 , wherein the compression system is adjustable by conventional controls to apply at least one operator-selectable compression pressure of between 26 psi and 126 psi to woody biomass material in the chamber. 
     
     
       3. The woody biomass baler of  claim 2 , wherein the compression system is adjustable by conventional controls to apply at least one operator-selectable compression pressure of between 46 psi and 86 psi to woody biomass material in the chamber. 
     
     
       4. The woody biomass baler of  claim 3 , wherein the compression system is adjustable by conventional controls to apply at least one operator-selectable compression pressure of between 50 psi and 71 psi to woody biomass material in the chamber. 
     
     
       5. The woody biomass baler of  claim 1 , wherein the baling chamber is mounted on a street-legal trailer or chassis. 
     
     
       6. The woody biomass baler of  claim 1 , wherein the baling chamber is not mounted on a street-legal trailer or chassis. 
     
     
       7. The woody biomass baler of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the sidewalls can be reversibly opened, and further comprising an ejection system adapted to apply a force of at least (Pb×W)(1.2H+0.132L) pounds to move a bale of compacted woody biomass material from the baling chamber through the opened sidewall, wherein Pb is compression pressure expressed in pounds per square inch that the compression system applies to compact the bale in the baling chamber, and wherein the length L, height H, and width W bale dimensions are expressed in square inches. 
     
     
       8. The woody biomass baler of  claim 1 , further comprising an open or reversibly opened back chamber wall and an ejection system adapted to apply a force of at least (0.132×Pb×L)(H+W) to move a bale of compacted woody biomass material from the chamber through the open or opened back chamber wall, wherein Pb is compression pressure expressed in pounds per square inch that the compression system applies to compact the bale in the chamber, and wherein the length L, height H, and width W bale dimensions are expressed in square inches. 
     
     
       9. The woody biomass baler of  claim 1 , wherein either or both of bale dimension ratios length L/width W and length L/height H is equal to or greater than 1.5. 
     
     
       10. The woody biomass baler of  claim 1 , wherein either or both of bale dimension length L/width W and length L/height H is approximately 2.